System and method for the modification of surgical procedures using a graphical drag and drop interface

ABSTRACT

Embodiments of the present invention provide a system and method for allowing a user to modify a surgical procedure. An embodiment of the method of the present invention can include: providing a GUI on a touch screen of a surgical console, said GUI comprising a representation of the surgical procedure and representations of one or more surgical steps, wherein the GUI allows a user to modify the representation of the surgical procedure by dragging and dropping representations of surgical steps using the touch screen; detecting that the representation of the surgical procedure has been modified; and modifying the surgical procedure to correspond to the modified representation of the surgical procedure.

PRIORITY CLAIM

This application is a continuation application of prior U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 11/479,668 titled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR THEMODIFICATION OF SURGICAL PROCEDURES USING A GRAPHICAL DRAG AND DROPINTERFACE” which was filed Jun. 30, 2006 now U.S. Pat. No. 8,272,387,now whose inventors are Paul Essex, Johan Ekvall, and Kirk W. Todd whichis hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety as though fullyand completely set forth herein.

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates surgical systems and to surgicalprocedures performed. More particularly, embodiments of the presentinvention relate to surgical procedure steps used in ophthalmic surgicalsystems. Even more particularly, embodiments of the present inventionrelate to systems and methods for modifying, adding or eliminatingsurgical steps in a surgical procedure.

BACKGROUND

The human eye can suffer a number of maladies causing mild deteriorationto complete loss of vision. While contact lenses and eyeglasses cancompensate for some ailments, ophthalmic surgery is required for others.Generally, ophthalmic surgery is classified into posterior segmentprocedures, such as vitreoretinal surgery, and anterior segmentprocedures, such as cataract surgery. More recently, combined anteriorand posterior segment procedures have been developed.

The surgical instrumentation used for ophthalmic surgery can bespecialized for anterior segment procedures or posterior segmentprocedures or support both. Such surgical instrumentation can comprise aVitreoretinal and Cataract microsurgical console. Such a surgicalconsole can provide a variety of functions depending on the surgicalprocedure and surgical instrumentation. For example, surgical consolescan expedite cataract surgeries (e.g. phacoemulsification procedures) byhelping manage irrigation and aspiration flows into and out of asurgical site. And of course surgical consoles can provide otherfunctions.

Vitreoretinal and Cataract microsurgical consoles can make use of apredefined memorized surgical procedure to facilitate a smooth surgicalsession. However, during surgery, an unexpected complication can arise(such as unexpected bleeding, partial retinal detachment, posteriorcapsule rupture, etc.). With existing surgical systems, it is difficultto modify a procedure “on the fly” to address such contingencies.Therefore there is a need for a system and method which allows a user toquickly and reliably modify a surgical procedure to handle unexpectedcomplications.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Embodiments of the present invention provide a system and method formodifying surgical procedures and creating new surgical procedures whichis substantially more convenient, more intuitive, nimbler and swifterthan prior art systems and methods of procedure modification andcreation using a surgical console. One embodiment of the presentinvention includes a method for the modification of a surgicalprocedure. The method can comprise the steps of: providing a GUI on atouch screen of a surgical console, said GUI comprising a representationof the surgical procedure and representations of one or more surgicalsteps, wherein the GUI allows a user to modify the representation of thesurgical procedure by dragging and dropping representations of surgicalsteps using the touch screen; detecting that the representation of thesurgical procedure has been modified; and modifying the surgicalprocedure to correspond to the modified representation of the surgicalprocedure. If the representation of the surgical procedure is initiallyblank, the modified representation of the surgical procedure canrepresent an entirely new procedure. Additionally, modifications ofexisting procedures can be saved as new procedures.

Another embodiment of the current invention can include a computerprogram product comprising a set of computer instructions stored on acomputer readable medium, said set of computer instructions comprisinginstructions executable by a processor to: provide a GUI on a touchscreen of a surgical console, said GUI comprising a representation ofthe surgical procedure and representations of one or more surgicalsteps, wherein the GUI allows a user to modify the representation of thesurgical procedure by dragging and dropping representations of surgicalsteps using the touch screen; detect that the representation of thesurgical procedure has been modified; and modify the surgical procedureimplemented by the surgical console to correspond to the modifiedrepresentation of the surgical procedure. In this manner, existingprocedures can be modified and new procedures created.

Yet another embodiment of the invention includes a surgical systemcomprising a touch screen display, a surgical console and a controllercoupled to the touch screen display and the surgical console. Thecontroller can be configured to: provide a GUI on the touch screendisplay, said GUI comprising a representation of the surgical procedureand representations of one or more surgical steps, wherein the GUIallows a user to modify the representation of the surgical procedure bydragging and dropping representations of surgical steps using the touchscreen; detect that the representation of the surgical procedure hasbeen modified; and modify the surgical procedure implemented by thesurgical console to correspond to the modified representation of thesurgical procedure.

Embodiments of the present invention provide the advantage that the usercan conveniently and nimbly modify a surgical procedure. Additionally,new surgical procedures can be created. Embodiments of the presentinvention provide additional advantages in that modification of thesurgical procedure is swift, flexible and intuitive.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

A more complete understanding of the present invention and theadvantages thereof may be acquired by referring to the followingdescription, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings inwhich like reference numbers indicate like features and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic representation of one embodiment of a surgicalconsole;

FIG. 2 is a representation of one embodiment of a graphical userinterface (GUI);

FIG. 3 is a representation of one embodiment of a GUI;

FIG. 4 is a representation of one embodiment of a GUI;

FIG. 5 is a representation of one embodiment of a GUI;

FIG. 6 is a diagrammatic representation of one embodiment of acontroller for surgical instrumentation; and

FIG. 7 is a flow chart illustrating one embodiment of a method formodifying a surgical procedure using the input capabilities of a touchscreen.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Preferred embodiments of the invention are illustrated in the FIGURES,like numerals being used to refer to like and corresponding parts of thevarious drawings.

Vitreoretinal and Cataract microsurgical consoles can make use ofpredefined memorized surgical steps to facilitate a smooth surgicalsession. This allows the surgical console to display only the surgicalsteps required to complete the surgical procedure at hand. This paradigmis called a “procedural” paradigm. During a procedural paradigm basedsurgery, an unexpected complication can arise (such as unexpectedbleeding, partial retinal detachment, posterior capsule rupture, etc.)which requires modifying the procedural flow of the procedural paradigm.Thus, a surgical console which implements a procedural paradigm requiresa way for a user to quickly modify the procedural flow of the proceduralparadigm to handle unexpected complications by modifying, eliminating oradding surgical steps.

Embodiments of the present invention solve this problem by using a touchscreen to present an interactive graphical user interface (“GUI”) to theuser. In a preferred embodiment, the user can use the interactive GUI tonimbly modify the procedural flow of the procedure to handle unexpectedcomplications by adding or removing surgical steps to the proceduralparadigm through “dragging” and “dropping” surgical steps. Such a methodof manipulation is commonly referred to as “drag and drop” and will befamiliar to those having ordinary skill in the art. In one embodiment ofthe invention, dragging and dropping can be accomplished using the inputcapabilities of the touch screen.

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic representation of one embodiment of anophthalmic surgical console 100. Surgical console 100 can include aswivel monitor 110 that has touch screen 115. Swivel monitor 110 can bepositioned in a variety of orientations for whomever needs to see touchscreen 115. Swivel monitor 110 can swing from side to side, as well asrotate and tilt. Touch screen 115 provides a GUI that allows a user tointeract with console 100.

Surgical console 100 also includes a connection panel 120 used toconnect various tools and consumables to surgical console 100.Connection panel 120 can include, for example, a coagulation connector,balanced salt solution receiver, connectors for various hand pieces anda fluid management system (“FMS”) or cassette receiver 125. Surgicalconsole 100 can also include a variety of user friendly features, suchas a foot pedal control (e.g., stored behind panel 130) and otherfeatures.

In operation, the GUI can be used to display surgical steps comprising aprocedural paradigm. The GUI can further display additional surgicalsteps which can be added to the procedure. These additional surgicalsteps can be added to the procedure by a simple “drag and drop.”Surgical steps can also be removed from the procedure by a “drag anddrop.” Thus, the procedural flow of the procedural paradigm can benimbly manipulated by a user to handle complications.

Surgical console 100 is provided by way of example and embodiments ofthe present invention can be implemented with a variety of surgicalsystems. Example surgical systems in which various embodiments of thepresent invention can be used include, for example, the Series 2000®Legacy® cataract surgical system, the Accurus® 400VS surgical system,the Infiniti™ Vision System surgical system all available from AlconLaboratories Inc. of Fort Worth, Texas. Embodiments of the presentinvention can be implemented in other suitable surgical systems having atouch screen as would be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art.

FIG. 2 shows an embodiment of a GUI 132 which might be displayed on asurgical console touch screen (e.g. touch screen 115 of FIG. 1). Asshown in FIG. 2, GUI 132 comprises a portion that displays arepresentation of a surgical procedure. For example, GUI 132 cancomprise a procedural paradigm display 135 which displays the proceduralparadigm. As shown in FIG. 2, GUI 132 further comprises a surgical stepdisplay 140 that displays representations of various surgical steps. Thedisplayed surgical steps can be added to the procedure at theappropriate stage in the procedural flow to modify the procedure tohandle complications as they arise. In FIG. 2, a user has selected theLaser Step by pressing the representation of the Laser Step 142 shown onthe touch screen.

Procedural paradigm display 135 and surgical steps display 140 can bemanifested in any number of ways and combinations, including appearingtogether on the same touch screen or on different screens or anyconceivable combination thereof. Furthermore, procedural paradigmdisplay 135 and surgical steps display 140 can be combined to compriseone display.

FIG. 3 shows an embodiment of GUI 132 during the “drag” portion ofmodifying a procedure. The displayed surgical steps can be added to theprocedure at the appropriate stage in the procedural flow to modify theprocedure to handle complications as they arise. In FIG. 3, the user hasbegun to move representation of the Laser Step 142 from surgical stepsdisplay 140 to procedural paradigm display 135 by “dragging”representation of the Laser Step 142 across the touch screen.

FIG. 4 shows an embodiment of GUI 132 as the user selects the locationfor the Laser Step. The displayed surgical steps can be added to theprocedure at the appropriate stage in the procedural flow to modify theprocedure to handle complications as they arise. In FIG. 4, the user hasmoved representation of the Laser Step 142 from surgical steps display140 to procedural paradigm display 135 by “dragging” representation ofthe Laser Step 142 across the touch screen.

FIG. 5 shows an embodiment of GUI 132 after the “drop.” In FIG. 5, theuser has added the Laser Step to the procedural paradigm by “dropping”representation of the Laser Step 142 at the appropriate stage inprocedural paradigm display 135. Consequently, the underlying procedurecan be modified to add the Laser Step to the steps of the procedureinitially displayed in procedural paradigm display 135.

While the foregoing embodiment of the invention described above andrepresented in FIGS. 2 through 5 continuously displays both the surgicalsteps display and the procedural paradigm display, this is by way ofexample and embodiments of the present invention can be implemented inother ways. For example, the surgical steps display need not becontinuously displayed, but can be dismissed by a user or automaticallydisappear once a surgical step has been selected. Furthermore, thesurgical step display may be initially absent from the GUI and may besummoned by the user when desired (e.g. by touching an add/modify buttonin the GUI or by any other suitable mechanism). Similarly, in anotherembodiment, the procedural paradigm display may initially be absent andsummoned by the user when desired. Furthermore, in another embodiment,the user may dismiss the procedural paradigm display when user wishes.

The user can also modify the procedure by removing surgical step(s)using the same drag and drop methodology. For example, a user can selecta surgical step in the procedure which is to be removed from theprocedural paradigm by touching the representation of said surgical stepdisplayed in the procedural paradigm display on the touch screen. Theuser can then “drag” the selected representation of the surgical step tobe removed out of the procedural paradigm display. The user “drops” theselected representation of the surgical step to be removed by removinguser's finger from the touch screen. This process effects the removal ofthe selected surgical step from the procedural paradigm. Similarly, theuser can modify the order of steps in a procedure by rearranging therepresentations of the steps in the GUI by dragging and dropping therepresentations.

FIG. 6 is a diagrammatic representation of a surgical instrumentationcontroller 200 (“controller 200”). Controller 200 can be onboard orconnected to surgical instrumentation such as surgical console 100.Controller can include a processor 202, such as an Intel Pentium 4 basedprocessor (Intel and Pentium are trademarks of Intel Corporation ofSanta Clara, California), a primary memory 203 (e.g., RAM, ROM, FlashMemory, EEPROM or other computer readable medium known in the art) and asecondary memory 204 (e.g., a hard drive, disk drive, optical drive orother computer readable medium known in the art). A memory controller207 can control access to secondary memory 204. Controller 200 caninclude I/O interfaces, such as touch screen interface 206. A videocontroller 212 can control interactions over the touch screen interface206. Similarly, an I/O controller 214 can control interactions over I/Ointerfaces 208 and 210. Controller 200 can include a variety of inputdevices. Various components of controller 200 can be connected by a bus226.

Secondary memory 204 can store a variety of computer instructions thatinclude, for example, an operating system such as a Windows operatingsystem (Windows is a trademark of Redmond, Wash. based MicrosoftCorporation) and applications that run on the operating system, alongwith a variety of data. More particularly, secondary memory 204 canstore a software program 230 that controls the procedural flow of asurgery based on a procedural paradigm. During execution by processor202, portions of program 230 can be stored in secondary memory 204and/or primary memory 203.

In operation, program 230 can be executable by processor 202 to providea GUI to the user (e.g., through monitor 110) that shows a first displaywhich represents the procedural paradigm and which further shows asecond display which represents surgical steps that can be added to theprocedural paradigm. This second display is comprised of representationsof surgical steps. The user can select a surgical step to add to theprocedural paradigm by touching the representation of the desiredsurgical step in the second display. The user can then “drag” theselected surgical step to the desired stage in the procedural shown inthe first display using the input capabilities of the touch screen. Theuser can then “drop” the selected surgical step at the desired stage byremoving his finger from the touch screen. The representation of thedesired surgical step will be shown at the desired stage in theprocedural shown in the first display.

When controller 200 receives notice of a modification of the procedure(e.g., by detecting input from the touch screen) controller 200 willmodify the procedural flow of the surgical procedure as implemented bythe surgical consol to correspond to the procedure as shown on the touchscreen.

Controller 200 of FIG. 6 is provided by way of example only and itshould be understood that embodiments of the present invention canimplemented as a set of computer instructions stored on a computerreadable medium in a variety of computing devices. Program 230 can beexecutable to receive and store data over a network and can includeinstructions that are stored at a number of different locations and areexecuted in a distributed manner. While shown as a stand alone programin FIG. 6, it should be noted that program 230 can be a module of alarger program, can comprise separate programs operable to communicatedata to each other or can be implemented according to any suitableprogramming architecture and language.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart illustrating one embodiment of a method formodifying the procedural flow of a procedure. The method of FIG. 7 canbe implemented as a set of computer executable instructions stored on acomputer readable medium at, for example, surgical console 100. The setof computer executable instructions can, when executed, present the userwith an interactive user interface (e.g., a GUI) on a touch screen 115that allows the user to modify a procedure by adding or removingsurgical steps through dragging and dropping representations of surgicalsteps displayed on the interactive user interface. At step 250, the userdevelops a need for a surgical step not currently in the procedure.

At step 255, the user uses the GUI displayed on touch screen 115 tosummon a surgical steps display which displays representations ofsurgical steps. At step 260, the user drags the representation of thedesired surgical step to where desired in the representation of theprocedure shown on the GUI and drops the representation of the surgicalstep at the desired location in the representation of the procedure. Theprocedural flow of the procedure is then modified to incorporate thesurgical step into the procedure at the desired stage (step 265). Atstep 270, the user dismisses the surgical steps display shown on theGUI. In an implementation that utilizes a procedural paradigm, the newprocedural flow can be optionally saved as a new paradigm.

The steps of FIG. 7 can be repeated as needed or desired. Moreover, FIG.7 is provided by way of example and embodiments of the present inventioncan implement the steps in different orders or provide greaterfunctionality. Additionally, such “drag and drop” functionality can beused to remove steps from a procedure or change the order of steps inthe procedure.

Embodiments of the present invention can be used in a variety ofsurgical systems, particularly vision systems, and provide increasedfunctionality and ease of use. Users are able to swiftly modify asurgical procedure to cope with arising complications. For example,users will be able to nimbly add or remove surgical steps from asurgical procedure simply by dragging and dropping on a touch screen.

Although the present invention has been described in detail herein withreference to the illustrated embodiments, it should be understood thatthe description is by way of example only and is not to be construed ina limiting sense. It is to be further understood, therefore, thatnumerous changes in the details of the embodiment of this invention andadditional embodiments of this invention will be apparent, and may bemade by, persons of ordinary skill in the art having reference to thisdescription. It is contemplated that all such changes and additionalembodiments are within scope of the invention as claimed below.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A method for the modification of a surgicalprocedure, comprising: providing a Graphical User Interface (GUI) on atouch screen of a surgical console, said GUI comprising a representationof the surgical procedure and representations of one or more surgicalsteps, wherein the GUI allows a user to modify the representation of thesurgical procedure by dragging and dropping representations of surgicalsteps using the touch screen, wherein modifying the representation ofthe surgical procedure comprises modifying the order of steps in thesurgical procedure by rearranging the representations of the steps inthe GUI by dragging and dropping the representations of the steps;detecting that the representation of the surgical procedure has beenmodified; and modifying the surgical procedure to correspond to themodified representation of the surgical procedure.
 2. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the representation of the surgical procedure comprisesrepresentations of surgical steps to be performed.
 3. The method ofclaim 2, wherein the GUI further comprises an area includingrepresentations of surgical steps.
 4. The method of claim 3, wherein asurgical step is added to the surgical procedure based on dragging acorresponding representation of the surgical step from the areaincluding representations of surgical steps and dropping thecorresponding representation of the surgical step at the desired stagein the representation of the surgical procedure.
 5. The method of claim1, wherein a surgical step is removed from the surgical procedure basedon dragging a corresponding representation of the surgical step from therepresentation of the procedure and dropping the correspondingrepresentation of the surgical step outside of the representation of thesurgical procedure.
 6. A computer program product comprising a set ofcomputer instructions stored on a computer readable medium, said set ofcomputer instructions comprising instructions executable by a processorto: provide a Graphical User Interface (GUI) on a touch screen of asurgical console, said GUI comprising a representation of the surgicalprocedure and representations of one or more surgical steps, wherein theGUI allows a user to modify the representation of the surgical procedureby dragging and dropping representations of surgical steps using thetouch screen, wherein modifying the representation of the surgicalprocedure comprises modifying the order of steps in the surgicalprocedure by rearranging the representations of the steps in the GUI bydragging and dropping the representations of the steps; detect that therepresentation of the surgical procedure has been modified; and modifythe surgical procedure implemented by the surgical console to correspondto the modified representation of the surgical procedure.
 7. Thecomputer program product of claim 6, wherein the representation of thesurgical procedure comprises representations of surgical steps to beperformed.
 8. The computer program product of claim 7, wherein the GUIfurther comprises an area including representations of surgical steps.9. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein a surgical step isadded to the surgical procedure based on dragging a correspondingrepresentation of the surgical step from the area includingrepresentations of surgical steps and dropping the correspondingrepresentation of the surgical step at the desired stage in therepresentation of the surgical procedure.
 10. The computer programproduct of claim 6, wherein a surgical step is removed from the surgicalprocedure based on dragging a corresponding representation of thesurgical step from the representation of the procedure and dropping thecorresponding representation of the surgical step outside of therepresentation of the surgical procedure.
 11. A surgical systemcomprising: a touch screen display; a surgical console; and a controllercoupled to the touch screen display and the surgical console, thecontroller configured to: provide a Graphical User Interface (GUI) onthe touch screen display, said GUI comprising a representation of thesurgical procedure and representations of one or more surgical steps,wherein the GUI allows a user to modify the representation of thesurgical procedure by dragging and dropping representations of surgicalsteps using the touch screen, wherein modifying the representation ofthe surgical procedure comprises modifying the order of steps in thesurgical procedure by rearranging the representations of the steps inthe GUI by dragging and dropping the representations of the steps;detect that the representation of the surgical procedure has beenmodified; and modify the surgical procedure implemented by the surgicalconsole to correspond to the modified representation of the surgicalprocedure.
 12. The surgical system of claim 11, wherein therepresentation of the surgical procedure comprises representations ofsurgical steps to be performed.
 13. The surgical system of claim 12,wherein the GUI further comprises an area including representations ofsurgical steps.
 14. The surgical system of claim 13, wherein a surgicalstep is added to the surgical procedure based on dragging acorresponding representation of the surgical step from the areaincluding representations of surgical steps and dropping thecorresponding representation of the surgical step at the desired stagein the representation of the surgical procedure.
 15. The surgical systemof claim 11, wherein a surgical step is removed from the surgicalprocedure based on dragging a corresponding representation of thesurgical step from the representation of the procedure and dropping thecorresponding representation of the surgical step outside of therepresentation of the surgical procedure.